Sorry this is EXTREMELY LATE! I went on two trips in one week then got the sickness from hell. Ear infection, throat infection, and upper-respiratory infection all at once pretty much knocked me off my feet for a couple days. But now I am heavily medicated on all sorts of weird powders and drops that the Czech doctor gave me that I'm pretty sure are from 1889. He gave me a leech too, but I got attached and didn't want HIM to get an upper-respiratory infection.

anyways...

Munich! Munich was awesome. We arrived by Student Agency Bus at about 1:30 pm on Friday (which, by the way means we left Brno at 5 am, which means I woke up at 3:30 am uuunh) to gorgeous weather, and a very confusing bus system

. We eventually figured out how to get to our hostel, and dropped our stuff of to explore the city. We started off at the English Gardens in the center of Munich, which is larger than Central Park. It was the first time I had walked around in a park since I left the states, and I was eating it up. Little bridges hanging over trickling creeks, teenagers playing frisbee, strange ducks that I desperately wanted to touch.

After a long day of travel and a lovely afternoon in the park, we decided to have a quiet night in. NOT. It was time for the Hofbrauhaus! Hofbrauhaus was founded in 1589 (yes, that's right, it's older than America) and is undoubtedly the most famous beer hall in Munich. Walking in to the Hofbrauhaus for the first time is quite an experience...there is a lot to take in all at once. For starters, this place is HUGE. Twenty-foot ceilings, enough seating for at least 200 people, dozens of long, cedar plank tables, men in lederhosen and women hawking pretzels bigger than my face all set to a live band of traditional German musicians. The beer is another story...one liter beer steins so full you can barely lift them. And they are strong, let me tell you. I ended up dancing my butt off to the traditional German music, something I probably could not have done pre-liter of beer.

The next day we somehow got ourselves out of bed to go on a walking tour of the city

. Marienplatz square was PACKED with tourists, but we found our tour guide and got to watch the glockenspiel go off in the New Town Hall. It kind of reminded me of the astronomical clock in Prague, in that it was cool, but probably not worth going way out of your way for. Watching the tour guides make fun of it was more amusing than watching the actual show. Our tour guide was really cool and took us through all the important parts of Munich, telling us all the interesting history. Nazism was founded in Munich, and remained the headquarters for the Nazi party until 1945. There is really no better way to learn about history than to stand in the places that it took place. It is very surreal at times. Saturday was my friends birthday, so we had to go to a good old fashioned Discotheque. It was pretty fun but waaaay too expensive, and we couldn't stay that long. Oh well.

The whole trip would have been worth it just for Sunday, though. We went to the Dachau, the first concentration camp in Germany, and the prototype for all other Nazi concentration camps. I had never been to a former concentration camp before, and I had no idea what to expect. Dachau was very bleak. They definitely did not try to make it pretty or nice...besides a few plaques and memorials, it was very true to how it looked when it was a functioning work camp. We purchased the audio tour so we could listen to historians and holocaust survivors talk about the camp as we walked around. I found that sometimes, while walking around the camp, I would step in a certain spot and just be overtaken by chills. It was hard to be there at some points, but I think it is something everyone must see. As painful as it is, it is important to confront the darkest parts of history to ensure that it never happens again. We stayed for about three hours, at which point we were all mentally and emotionally exhausted and had to leave. Honestly, you can probably get more from the pictures I took then from what I am writing about it.

Germany was an amazing experience, and I really want to go back soon! Thanks to my six partners-in-crime who went with me and made the trip awesome.

Comments

Georgia
on Mar 26, 2011 at 03:29PM

That sounds like so much fun! When I was in Munich it was pretty lame. We watched the clock tower and went to the Puma store. I am so jealous that you go to visit a concentration camp, which is kind of a weird sentence to write. It sounds like an amazing experience.

Wow, Munich looks beautiful! Visiting a concentration camp sounds like a pretty profound experience. I'm glad you're getting to do and see so many memorable things!

bhumasuarus
on Mar 28, 2011 at 01:55PM

VOWWWWWWWWWW this is really cool bananaleee &lt;3 I don't have much else to say because its just SO AWESOME that you're going to all these places and seeing all these things and i miss you and love youuu